Advertisement
Published: February 10th 2008
Edit Blog Post
On our first day in Phnom Penh we went to the National Museum. Allee really enjoyed the museum which was full of carvings and statues, mainly from Angkor, but I wasn't feeling too good and so stomped through the exhibits. The highlight of the museum for me was walking around the edge of a pond with lots of big fish following me expecting to be fed. I've felt ill at some point every day for the past week as my malaria tablets seem to disagree with me and make me feel sick for an hour or so after I've taken them. The side-effects of Allee's malaria tablets include feelings of persecution but she doesn't seem to be having any of them at the moment.
Later that day we went to Friends Restaurant where former street children are trained to be chefs and other restaurant jobs. The food and people were lovely and I would highly recommend it. We've learnt to say Hello, Goodbye, Thank you and Can I have the bill please in Khmer now which always gets a few laughs.
The next day we went to Cheung Ek, the location of Cambodia's most notorious 'killing field'. While the
Khmer Rouge would often march people into any random field or forest to execute them, Cheung Ek was where truck loads of people were taken and permanent executioners were based there. A memorial stupa contains the remains of almost 9,000 people found in mass graves at the site with other graves which have not been exhumed thought to contain up to 17,000 more bodies. It was important to stop and think here and remember that each of the skulls visible in the stupa belonged to a man, woman or child who stood terrified at the edge of the pits behind it before being murdered. It's a pity that not all visitors remember this. Maybe if they did there would be less people posing with big smiles for photographs next to the remains of the victims.
The site at Cheung Ek does not bombard with information but provides somewhere to reflect on what this country went through only 30 years ago. It's amazing to think that many of the people who take the time to say hello or smile and wave to us are survivors of this era of Cambodian history.
After Cheung Ek we went to the Toul
Sleng Genocide Museum. This was a former school which was converted into Prison S-21 by the Khmer Rouge and used as a place for interrogation. Of the estimated 20,000 who were brought here only 7 survived. The rest died either here or at the killing fields. Displays included cells, torture instruments and room after room of photographs of the victims, some only babies and toddlers. It was possible to find quiet spots here to think about what people went through but, again, there were people posing next to gallows and tubs used for drowning prisoners pulling silly faces for the photo album.
We overheard some people saying that they had been disappointed with the Royal Palace at Phnom Penh and so were unsure of what to expect when we got there. In fact we found it to be a lovely place if not slightly bizarre at times. In between the Asian architecture and Buddha statues were a building which looked a bit like a wild west saloon and a statue which was of Napoleon on a horse until Napoleon's head was cut off and replaced by the King's. The palace was not as big as the Grand Palace
in Bangkok but I think that is its beauty. Allee was official photographer here as my malaria tablets were causing havok with my insides.
Later that day we went for a massage at Seeing Hands. This place provides a skill and a job for blind people in a country which offers no support to its disabled. It also gave us the piece of mind that it was a real massage parlour and not a brothel. Asian massages are very different to the ones at home and much of it involved the masseur digging his fingers into joints or muscles and putting all of his body weight onto them. Fingers and toes were cracked, our bodies were stretched into positions we didn't know possible and at times I had to stop myself shouting out in pain but in the end it was these areas that benefited the most. The other difficult part was the foot massage, during which I cried with laughing as my ticklish feet were pounded.
Rather than spend a full week in Phnom Penh before being allowed into Vietnam we have come Sihanoukville (or Shanookyville as Allee calls it) for a few days on the
coast. From here we can get to National Parks and islands but I'll save that for the next blog.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.074s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 11; qc: 66; dbt: 0.0485s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Martin.W
non-member comment
Choum reap suor look (srey)
'The killing fields' places to sit and remember in silence with the sound of Anthony spewing up in the background. "torture chamber at Toul Sleng" didn't reckon much to your accommodatoin in that picture. Now that Allee has been promoted to chief photographer are we in for a diffrent style of picture? At this rate Allee will also be chief scribe by the time of the next entry. Lear heouy( I think)